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MA-QUI-BA-NA-SIIA (Youn^ Bear) 



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15Y ALBERT LINDLEY BEANE 



I OWA'S fair commonwealth, which is rich in so many attractions, 
A Has on a vv'-orld-famous roadway a hill of most singular aspect: 
No other hill of this form can be seen on the great Lincoln Highway— 
This is a rock-ribbed plateau with steep sides that slope down to the level 
Rich bottom lands that adjoin the fair banks of the Iowa river. 
Venturous points cut the plain to northeast and northwest at two corners, 
Both creeping out from the hill like to rocks in the realm of the ocean; 
Southward, the little plateau blends away with the neighboring upland. 
Gushes a spring pure and sweet at the foot of the northwestern salient. 
Flowing throughout the whole year, and as freely in Vi^inter as summer. 
Oft has its crystalline flood to both man and to beast been a blessing. 
Settlers from, earliest days always spoke of this hill as "the Anvil," 
Which is the name it has borne from those virile days down to the present. 
Ere the white settlers arrived fiom afar o'er the great Mississippi, 
Indians roved o'er the hill as they sought for the deer and the bison — 
O'er it the prairie grass vvraved intermingled with bright starry blossoms. 
Formerly, say the old men w^ho were wont to stroll over the Anvil, 
One with ear pressed to the ground, there might hear a slow pulsing or 

throbbing, 
As though a tortuous stream flowed along subterranean channels. 

Now, where the bison and deer wandered over the wild Anvil grasses. 
Feed gentle horses and kine in the pasture lands fenced to enclose them. 
Stretches of billowy grain v/ave instead of the grass of the prairie; 
Naught from the old time remains but the arrowheads found by the children. 
Now, o'er the trail that was pressed by the moccasined foot of the red man, 
Passes the great busy road that was named for the Lincoln immortal, 
O'er which the automobiles are forever on-rushing and whirring — 
Hieing like tempest-ruled winds — many going from ocean to ocean. 
Scions that sprang from a tribe that roamed over the plains (the Mesquakie), 
Own a community tract on the banks of the Iowa river, 

But the "Great Father" supreme has not sanctioned the rule of a chieftain, 
Since the demise of the chief, Push-e-ton'-e-qua, manly and noble; 

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Young Bear, his son, would now rule, were the tribal chiefs vested with power, 
He of the musical name, Ma-qui-ba'-na-sha, meaning a cub bear: 
Young Bear, athletic and Greek-like, once told me the Anvil's quaint legend — 
Tale that ere this found no place in the pale face's song or his story. 

"Old people tell me," said he, "that deep down in the heart of the Anvil, 
Dwells a beneficent smith who forever is pounding and pounding: 
If at the ev'ning you leave in the spring that forever is flowing, 
Pots, pans or kettles or aught that a smith might repair on his anvil, 
Back to his workshop the smit'n takes the ware and at nighttime repairs it. 
When you return at the dawn for the vessels of brass and of copper. 
They are agleam in the spring with each aperture carefully mended; 
Yet this man down in the hill, who is such a beneficent tinker. 
Gets naught of thanks for his work, for he was never looked on by mortal." 

Folk-lore has some basic root out of which sprang its ancient existence; 
Haply this legend took form from the fact that from out the hill's caverns 
Regular throbbing was heard. Think you this gave the name to "the Anvil?" 



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EXPLANATORY 

The huge stone hill known as "The Devil's Anvil," which has played such 
a large part in t'ne life of the people of the neighborhood since the earliest 
days, is located one mile east of the village of LeGrand. At the time the 
above poem was written the road near by ^as the route of the Lincoln 
Highway, but as the signs have been changed to follow the primary road 
the route through the village is known as the Lincoln Highway "Cut-Off." 

The twine used as a tie for this booklet was made by an Indian squaw, 
Qaa-ta-ge, the Indian name for the twine being "a-sa-pa-pe." It is made 
from fibre obtained from the bark of the linden, or basswood, tree. The 
Indians also make twine and rope from the fibre of the common nettle plant, 
the botanical name for which is Urtica gracilis. 




A. L. BE 



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